Folgers and Hazelnut Creamer
by Shimmerwings
Summary: The making of morning rituals, through Mayer's eyes. Much coffee is consumed.


**Title:**  Folgers and Hazelnut Creamer

**Rating:**  I never know how to rate stuff.  I'll go with PG-13 to be safe.

**Feedback:**  It would be much appreciated.

**Summary:**  The making of morning rituals, through Mayer's eyes.  Much coffee is consumed.    

**Disclaimer:**  The characters don't belong to me; Disney has that honor.  This particular alternate universe belongs to me and Spartacus.

**Warnings:**  Weird, fluffy stuff, which seems to be the only thing I can write.

**Notes:**  Alternate universe, modern setting, Little!David, all that fun stuff.  I don't even drink/know about coffee, which is the funny thing.  Go figure.  And this is--let's say it all together now--Slaaaash!  

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"Door's open, Jack," Mayer called.  He heard the kitchen door open behind him and distractedly noted that the hinges needed to be oiled for that squeak.  He folded back the newspaper to the business section.  Hmm, his stocks were up.

"Morning, all."  Jack's cheerful voice made Mayer smile.  

"You're early today," he said, glancing down at his watch.  Six fifty.  A good fifteen minutes earlier than usual.  "I think David just got out of the shower."

"S'okay.  I'll wait."  He settled easily at the table, across from Mayer, picking up an apricot Danish when Esther set a plate in front of him.

_"Daddy?"  _

_Mayer smiled down at his precocious young son, who was staring at him with wide blue eyes.  "Yes, David?"_

_"What's that?"  He pointed at Mayer's brown coffee mug with one sticky fist.  He was still wearing the Superman pajamas Esther had dressed him in the night before._

_Mayer took another sip from the mug.  "I'm drinking coffee," he explained patiently._

_"Is it good?"  David looked utterly fascinated by_ _the way he was stirring milk into the liquid._

_"Yes.  I like it."_

_David blinked at this, seemingly deep in thought for a moment.  "Can I have some?" he asked finally.  Mayer studied his son.  Five years old was really too young to be drinking coffee._

_"No," he said._

_David pouted, shuffling his bare feet on the linoleum floor.  "Why?" _

_"You're too young," Mayer told him.  _

_David stared at him, still pouting.  "But I want to drink what you do," he said, voice wavering. _

_Mayer smiled and set his mug on the table.  "C'mere," he said, and lifted David into the chair next to him.  David's feet stuck off the edge of the seat; he made a face when Mayer ruffled his dark, curly hair.  "You can have this," he told David, reaching for an empty mug and filling it half full with milk.  "Until you're old enough to drink real coffee."_

_Looking unsure, David grabbed a spoon and tentatively stirred his milk when he saw Mayer doing the same with his drink.  He took a slow sip of it, then smiled through his milk mustache._

_"'Kay," he agreed. _

"Thank you."  Jack smiled at Esther before taking a large bite, nodding enthusiastically at the taste.

"You're welcome, dear," Esther said, pleased.  She smacked Mayer's hand when he reached for one.  "Not for you.  You know these are bad for your diet.  Now eat."  She motioned sternly to his bowl of regrettably frosting and apricot free oatmeal.  He grimaced. 

Sarah giggled at him from where she stood, leaning against the counter.  Jack shot him a sympathetic look.  But he didn't stop eating the Danish, Mayer noticed.

_"Can I try some?" David asked.  "Please?"_

_He sat next to Mayer at the table, the toes of his dirty sneakers just brushing the ground as he impatiently swung his feet back and forth.  One lace flopped loosely.  Mayer chuckled and shook his head._

_"You're still too young."_

_David widened his eyes pleadingly.  "Daddy," he begged._

_"You've got your milk," Mayer reminded him, pointing to the half-gallon of milk sitting next to David's elbow.  _

_David glared disdainfully at the mug in his hands, filled to the brim with cold white liquid.  "It's not the same," he said decisively, with all the dignity an eight year old boy could muster.  "It's not like _yours_," he added plaintively, ruining the effect._

_ "You want it to be just like mine?" _

_"Yes!"  David bounced eagerly in his chair.  "Please," he added hastily when Mayer looked at him sternly.  He settled down and made an obvious effort to look properly dignified._

_Mayer bit back a grin.  "Okay," he finally agreed.  While David gazed on avidly, he poured a fresh cup of coffee.  "Black," he said, handing it to his second oldest with a flourish.  "Like I drink it."_

_He watched as David carefully cradled the mug between his hands, and took a sip of the bitter drink.  He had to struggle not to laugh when David's eyes widened comically, his face twisting.  _

_"Eww," he spluttered, when he had swallowed quickly.  He reached for the mug of milk, taking a large gulp._

_"You don't like it?" Mayer asked with exaggerated surprise.  David shook his head, pushing the coffee away.  "Oh, well," he sighed.  "Maybe when you're older."_

_David nodded vigorously._

Yawning, David wandered into the kitchen, hair still damp and curling loosely around his face.  "Morning," he mumbled, heading straight for the table and flopping into a chair.  Mayer watched in amusement as David looked up in mid-yawn and realized Jack was sitting next to him, smiling fondly.

"Mornin', sunshine," Jack laughed.

David blinked at him sleepily.  "Am I late?"

Sarah rolled her eyes.  "Not any later than usual," she said.  David made a face at her.

"I'm just early," Jack explained.

_"What's on your mind, David?" Mayer asked.  David was shifting in his seat, new shoe tapping erratically on the floor.  "Nervous about the first day of eighth grade?"_

_"No," David replied, looking up from his glass of orange juice.  "Well, not really," he amended at Mayer's skeptical look._

_Mayer nodded, pausing to accept a kiss on the cheek from Sarah as she headed out the door._

_"Papa," David said abruptly, tilting his head.  "Can I have a cup of coffee?  Not black," he added, smiling.  He rubbed a finger along the rim of his glass._

_Mayer leaned back in his chair and watched his oldest son pick his way through a plate of scrambled eggs.  David was an intelligent boy, talented and respectful.  And he was certainly old enough.  "I don't see why not," he said._

_David smiled and nodded.  He got to his feet and pulled a clean mug out of the top cupboard.  Carefully, he poured coffee into the cup, filling it two-thirds of the way full.  He looked up at Mayer.  "I'm not sure what to put in it," he confessed._

_"You might try some of that Hazelnut Creamer your mother's always using," Mayer suggested.  He took a sip of his own quickly cooling coffee, relishing the strong, bitter flavor.  _

_With careful precision, David added some of the creamer, tasted it and shook his head, then added more.  Finally, he was satisfied and carried the finished product back to the table.  David stirred the contents of his cup, unconsciously echoing a much younger version of himself._

_ "Good?"_

_"Yes," David said.  He breathed in the steam rising from his cup.  "It tastes better than I remember."_

_Mayer grinned.  "I imagine," he agreed. _

"Oh," David said.  "Okay."  Then he smiled and leaned over, kissing Jack absently; he only reached the corner of Jack's mouth, but Jack just beamed and draped his arm over the back of David's chair.

"Coffee, David?" Esther asked, smiling at the exchange.

"Yes, please," David moaned, dropping his head onto his arms.  "Whoever invented mornings should be shot."

Mayer snorted, while Esther poured the coffee, ignoring her son.  "And you, Jack?"

Jack shook his head.  "No, thanks."

_Mayer paused in the doorway, quietly taking in the scene before him:  Jack was in the kitchen with his son.  At __six o'clock__.  On a Saturday morning.  Which either meant he was over very early, or he had never left the night before._

_Judging by their rumpled clothing and the obvious bruising on David's collarbone and throat, Mayer decided that Jack had been there the entire night.  And neither had been doing much sleeping._

_Mayer sighed._

_They'd been open about their relationship and both he and Esther knew that if they weren't already sexually involved, they would be.  Still, it was one thing to speculate and quite another to be faced with the evidence.  Not that his son was with another boy--_young man_, he corrected himself--but that his son wasn't so little anymore._

_As Mayer watched, David hopped onto the counter and picked up a cup of coffee.  Jack lounged against the counter next to him, watching contentedly.  _

_"Would you like some?" David whispered._

_Jack shook his head.  "Never had it before," he murmured back.  Mayer nearly gave himself away by laughing at David's frankly astonished expression._

_"Try mine," he whispered firmly, pressing his mug into Jack's hands.  Jack looked skeptical, but took a sip anyway.  He promptly choked and swallowed convulsively.  David doubled over in silent laughter.  "Was it that bad?" he asked eventually._

_"God, how can you stand that stuff?" Jack hissed indignantly._

_David shook his head mournfully.  "You obviously have no taste," he said.  He put one hand on Jack's cheek, blue eyes shining.  "Don't worry; I love you anyway."_

_Jack smiled back and kissed David's forehead.  "Good.  'Cause I love you, too."_

_Mayer watched them banter back and forth for a while longer, before slipping back into the hall.  He'd still have to talk to them, but for now he'd give them their privacy.  He'd have his coffee later._

"Where's Les?" David asked when he had enough coffee in him to be coherent.

"Sleeping in," Esther answered.  "The middle school has a vacation today."

Jack made a face that looked suspiciously like a pout.  "I remember when we got all those vacation days," he said sorrowfully, then popped the last bite of Danish in his mouth.

David smiled into his mug.  "Yeah."  He ran a hand through his rapidly drying hair, then glanced at his watch.  "We should be going," he said to Jack.  Jack nodded and stood up.

"Thank you for the Danish, Mrs. Jacobs," he said again.  "It was delicious."  With a crooked smile, he reached down and tugged David up.  "C'mon, you said it--we have to go."  David threw a baleful look at him, muttering; Mayer caught something disparaging about morning people.

One hand on his lower back, Jack pushed David out the kitchen.  David paused, then swerved back.  "Good bye, Mama," he said, kissing Esther's cheek.  He hugged Mayer from behind and rejoined Jack, twining their fingers together.

Mayer smiled.  Then he finished his coffee.


End file.
